31 MARCH 2015

SecondsOut Boxing Bytes: Manny Pacquiao Mania and News From Around the World

Manny Pacquiao

By Paul Upham: There has been outrage from Manny Pacquiao fans around the world who feel their hero is being disrespected in the lead-up to his super fight with Oscar De La Hoya on December 6. Filipino boxing websites and chat rooms almost when into meltdown over the last two weeks when it was suggested by some American commentators that the Pacman will be knocked senseless by the much bigger Golden Boy. Don’t expect Pacquiao fans to take this sort of talk lightly. They are some of the most passionate fans in boxing.

While a loss to De La Hoya will send many Pacquiao fans into despair, a win would see one of the Pacific nation’s greatest ever celebrations.

***In further evidence of how important Pacquiao vs. De La Hoya is to the people of the Philippines, one Filipino boxing website reported in serious news tone that the current U.S financial crisis on Wall Street will not prevent the fight from going ahead on December 6.

***But there are some Filipino’s in politics who do not want to see their hero Manny Pacquiao in the ring with the much larger Oscar De La Hoya. The Daily Times newspaper in Manila reported that Senior congressman Rufus Rodriguez requested the Chairman of the country’s Games and Amusement Board (GAB) to temporarily freeze Pacquiao’s boxing licence to prevent him fighting on December 6, such was the concern for the Pacman’s safety.

GAB Chairman Eric Buhain apparently then asked the World Boxing Council (WBC) to cancel the fight. The office of the Filipino President Gloria Arroyo even entered the debate. Presidential spokeswoman, Lorelei Fajardo called on critics to leave the decision to Pacquiao. “A defeat does not diminish his glory or the honour he has won for our nation,” she said. “He will always remain a modern day hero for his courage and bold daring.”

Which sounds very much like they are preparing for the worst outcome?

***Promoter Frank Warren fired plenty of verbal punches at Joe Calzaghe in a special column in The Sun newspaper in the UK last weekend. Under the heading, Joe’s Repaid Me So Badly, Warren wrote, “When Joe signed with me he couldn’t afford to pay his mortgage. But over 12 long, hard, but successful years, I helped make him into a multi-millionaire, one of the best-known UK sports personalities who is now nailed-on for boxing’s Hall of Fame.”

Warren also explained why Ricky Hatton, in his opinion, was always able to earn more money and generate more publicity than Calzaghe.

“I gave up trying to get him (Calzaghe) the kind of gigs Ricky Hatton would do at the drop of a hat,” he wrote. “Joe made comments about the money and attention Hatton got but, although Joe is the better boxer, Ricky was prepared to put in the hard yards to get publicity.”

***When 36-year-old Joe Calzaghe met fans at City Hall in Cardiff on September 20 with his next opponent Roy Jones Jr, so many people turned up some fans had to be turned away from the 500 capacity hall. In another room in the same venue, groom Jason Tennetta and his bride Kathryn were being married. Calzaghe stopped by to pose with the surprised newly weds in some of their wedding photos.

***Joe Calzaghe on Mike Tyson: “He was a very odd guy. Sometimes he wouldn’t look at you, other times he would act like he was your best friend. He used to keep going on about how much he hated Don King. He’d stare at you and say all these crazy things. I’d just agree with him - I thought that was the safest thing to do.”

***U.S Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama has a framed copy of one of boxing’s most memorable images in his Senate office, on a wall near his desk. It is the picture of Muhammad Ali standing over Sonny Liston, who is laying on the canvas in their controversial rematch, demanding the former champion get up and fight.

***With his well known penchant for piling on the pounds between fights, there are some Ricky Hatton fans who expressed extra concern when news emerged that his long time nutritionist Kerry Kayes had left Team Hatton as part of the split with former trainer Billy Graham. But there is nothing to worry about says Hatton, who claims that moving in with partner Jennifer Dooley has helped him keep off the pounds. “I now have decent home cooking every night rather than a takeaway,” he said, “and since Jennifer moved in I have been able to keep my weight down.”

***Ricky Hatton, explaining why he is looking forward to fighting the winner of Oscar De La Hoya vs. Manny Pacquiao, whilst only focusing on the fight in front of him: “I am not looking past Paul Malignaggi, but I have to have one eye on my next fight after that.”

***While his October 18 fight with Bernard Hopkins has a limit of 170lbs, Kelly Pavlik’s trainer Jack Loew says his middleweight world champion boxer will weigh-in around 168lbs. Pavlik reportedly weighed 169½lbs last week.

***Jermain Taylor’s promoter Lou DiBella has confirmed that Taylor will fight 2000 U.S Olympic team mate Jeff Lacy on November 15 in Nashville, Tennessee, USA. The main support bout will see Kermin Cintron vs. Lovemore Ndou in an IBF welterweight world title eliminator.

***35 year-old Jose Antonio Rivera has been forced to retire due to injury. Doctors advised him that torn tissue around the knuckle of his right middle finger would never properly heal. He was a three-time world title holder, winner the WBA junior middleweight belt and the WBA & IBO welterweight belts.

***October 15, 2008 will mark the 150th anniversary of the birth of John L. Sullivan. In recent decades, Sullivan has faded from memory. To many, he’s now more myth than reality, a sporting Paul Bunyan. In a way, that’s fitting because, in his era, Sullivan was a near-mythic figure as large as Babe Ruth, Joe Louis, and Muhammad Ali were in their prime. He was America’s first mass-culture hero and the most idolized athlete who had lived up until his time.

SecondsOut.com’s lead feature writer Thomas Hauser, the author of 34 books including ‘Muhammad Ali: His Life And Times’, has written an Internet ground breaking three part series on the life and times of John L. Sullivan.

Read Part 1 of his “John L. Sullivan Revisited” series now at SecondsOut.comHERE!

Read Part 2 of his “John L. Sullivan Revisited” series now at SecondsOut.comHERE!

Read Part 3 of his “John L. Sullivan Revisited” series now at SecondsOut.comHERE!

***The Long Island News has reported on a revolutionary new mouth guard, the Pure Power Mouthguard (PPM) which claims to help boxers, “by properly aligning an athlete’s jaw, allowing their neck and jaw muscles to relax, which results in an increase in strength, balance, and flexibility.”

Dr. Gary Lederman explained: “Over 90% of the population has an overbite, and one of the negative effects of an overbite is that it causes muscle tension. When the neck and jaw muscles are tense, the body can’t perform at its peak. Strength is lost and balance is diminished.”

***Super middleweight Allan Green has been released from his promotional contract by Tony Holden and is now being promoted by Lou DiBella.

***37 year-old Grady Brewer, who won Season 2 of The Contender tournament, returned to the ring on September 12 with a 3rd round TKO win over Brandon Wooten. It was his first fight in two years, having suffered from injuries which include chronic knee and shoulder pain. While attempting to recover physically and reignite his career, Brewer has been working at a local Goodyear tire facility in Philadelphia, USA.

***Former three-time world champion Greg Haugen is back in boxing training fighters in Auburn, Washington, including his 20 year-old son Brady Haugen. “It’s always been in my blood. I sat on my butt for a while, but I wanted to get back in it,” 48 year-old Haugen told the Las Vegas Review Journal.

***Welshman Gary Lockett has decided to retire from boxing after his unsuccessful challenge against Kelly Pavlik in Atlantic City on June 7.

“To be honest, the desire isn’t there any more,” Lockett told BBC Sport. “I feel I have reached my level. I regret not ever winning the British title, but there’s nothing I can do about that now.”

***Billionaire real estate mogul Jeffrey Greene has cracked the Top 400 list of America’s richest people. The 53 year-old has real muscle behind him too. At his wedding to New York real-estate executive Mei Sze Chan last year, Mike Tyson was Greene’s best man.

***Speaking of weddings, Tyson’s last trainer and three-time world champion Jeff Fenech was one of the groomsmen for radio shock jock and Australian Idol judge Kyle Sandilands in Sydney on Friday.

***33 year-old Argentine Omar Narvaez made the fourteenth defence of his WBO flyweight world title on September 20. With unknowns such as Reginaldo Carvalho, Walberto Ramos and Marlon Marquez part of the title run, the Boxing Hall of Fame won’t be reserving him a plaque just yet. Another reason why he has held the WBO title for so long? Twice Narvaez turned down unification bouts with then IBF world champion Vic “Raging Bull” Darchinyan.

***IBF welterweight world champion Joshua Clottey says he wants a US$1 million dollar payday for a rematch with WBA world champion Antonio Margarito. Not the $600,000 he has been offered.

***Emmanuel Clottey, the older brother of IBF champion Joshua Clottey is looking for a fight. Based in New York, 34 year-old Clottey has a record of 24-8 (14).

“I have Joshua’s championship status to inspire me to get back on my feet,” Clottey told the Daily Graphic newspaper in Ghana. “I have only been out of the ring for 13 months. There are many boxers who have been away for a longer time and have continued with their careers, so I am back.”

***Cardae “B.J.” Douglas, the 17 year-old son of former undisputed heavyweight champion James “Buster” Douglas is impressing as an offensive lineman and defensive end for the Utica high school football team. The 6-foot tall, 198lbs athlete has sprinter’s speed and runs on the school relay team in track and field.

As for a possible future boxing career, Douglas Junior told the Newark Advocate, “My dad has trained me to defend myself, but he didn’t start boxing until he got out of high school, so if I want to go that direction, we’ll wait and see.”

***Wladimir and Vitali Klitschko are featured in a boxing video game which has now been released world wide. Klitschko Boxing - The Official Mobile Game allows you to assume the role of either of the two brothers as they chase the heavyweight championship of the world.

“We love this mobile game and are very excited that we now play a game with our own name on it!” the Klitschko brothers were quoted. “Our fans can get excited as well because now finally they can see and participate in the long awaited fight: Vitali against Wladimir!”

“It is a great honour to work with the famous Klitschko brothers on this exclusive mobile game title,” said publisher Eberhard Schoneburg, CEO of Artificial Life, via press release. “Boxing is one of the most popular sports on all gaming platforms. We are very pleased to add this unique, featured addition to our mobile game library.”

***Steps have been taken to see that the first black undisputed heavyweight world champion Jack Johnson, be given a full U.S Presidential pardon. In 1913, Johnson was convicted of violating the Mann Act, which outlawed the transportation of women across state lines for immoral purposes.

The new U.S House resolution stated that Johnson was “wronged by a racially motivated conviction prompted by his success in the boxing ring and his relationships with white women.”

U.S President George W. Bush has been requested to grant Johnson, who died in 1946, a posthumous pardon.

The resolution now goes to the U.S Senate, where Republican presidential nominee John McCain has a companion resolution.

***Irish world champion Barry McGuigan writing about Carl Froch in his column in the Mirror newspaper in the UK: “Carl Froch is arguably the best super middleweight in the world and has the chance to prove it in December when he contests the vacant WBC title against Canadian Jean Pascal. It has been a long road out of Joe Calzaghe’s shadow for Froch. Now, with Calzaghe planning his farewell bout, the world is literally at his feet.”

***Purchase on-line the new book on former undisputed world champion Kostya Tszyu, “Something Worth Fighting For”, written by SecondsOut.com’s Content Editor Paul UphamHERE!

***Australia super middleweight and former WBA champion Anthony Mundine continues to entice the retired Danny Green into a rematch. 33 year-old Mundine’s latest plan is to hold his next fight in Green’s hometown of Perth on November 12. Mundine’s persistence appears to be weakening Green’s resolve to stay retired. “I don’t like the guy and he doesn’t like me, and my desire to get back in the ring and beat him is burning hard inside me every day,” Green told the Perth media.

***The Burger King Amateur boxing series has been making its way around Jamaica with stops in Kingston, Portmore, Savanna-la-Mar, St Ann’s Bay and Stony Hill. One of the special guests at the events has been former world-rated heavyweight contender and two-time Canadian champion, Donovan “Razor” Ruddock.

***Check out all the latest boxing video action on-line at SecondsOut.TV. CLICK HERE! for more details.